In the Gunboat Tradition

At his press conference last week President Reagan played down the
importance of the U.S. troop maneuvers to be conducted jointly with
Honduras over the next six months and the unilateral Navy operations
now under way off both coasts of Nicaragua. "We have conducted
joint exercises with Latin American countries on a regular basis since
1965," he said. That is indeed the case. He went on to add,
"These are maneuvers of the kind we've been holding
regularly." On that point there can be some debate.